This invention relates to an apparatus and a process for sterilizing fluids.
It has been proposed to provide an apparatus with a radiation chamber in which the disinfecting properties of both ultraviolet radiation and ozone are combined in order to sterilize fluids. The radiation chamber includes at least one source of ultraviolet radiation, and a housing having an outer casing spaced from a uv-permeable inner casing. The inner casing of the housing is spaced around the source in such a manner as to form an intermediary channel, and a fluid is conveyed through the space between the casings. The ultraviolet radiation forms ozone in the gas, and has a sterilizing effect in the fluid. The ozonized gas and the fluid emerging from the radiation chamber are then combined to a separate collector vessel.
The proposal mixes ozonized gas and fluid away from the radiation chamber. Because ozone is highly unstable and since the reaction which forms ozone as a product is reversible, this prior-art proposal fails to utilize the full ozonization capacity of the gas.